Role of neuroimaging in pediatric head trauma

Abstract

Pediatric head trauma is very common and accounts for most of the emergency hospital visits. It is also the most common cause for a pediatrician to refer a child for neuroimaging. Pediatric head injury causes lot of morbidity and mortality in children and can be due to accidental or abusive injury. Falls are most common in small children, whereas motor vehicle accident is more common in older children and adolescents. Pediatric brain injury differs from adult brain injury due to immature brain, mechanism of injury, and difficulty in neurological evaluation in children. The radiologist needs to be familiar with these to correctly interpret the scans and guide clinicians in appropriate patient care.